1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printer for electronic equipments such as POS (point of sales) terminals and electronic registers, and, in particular, to a printer using double sheets of pressure sensitive paper.
2. Description of the Background Art
FIGS. 1 and 2 show an example of an electronic register used as a banking terminal or teller terminal. The electronic register includes a cabinet 1, an input keyboard 2, a display 3 and a printer 4.
As shown in FIG. 2, the printer 4 accommodates a supply roll 16, a printing unit 7 and a collecting reel 18. The supply roll 16 feeds double sheets of pressure sensitive paper 6 to the printing unit 7, which carries out printing on the double sheets of pressure sensitive paper 6.
Double sheets of pressure sensitive paper 6 discharged from the printing unit 7 are separated into a lower journal sheet 6a and an upper receipt sheet 6b by a guide 17 formed at an inner end of a journal filter 12. The journal sheet 6a is wound around a collection roll 18. The receipt sheet 6b is discharged through a discharge slit 19 toward a position above the cabinet. The discharge slit 19 is provided at its forward edge with a cutter 11 for cutting off the receipt sheet 6b.
The illustrated printer of the prior art is designed to prevent the receipt sheet 6b separated by the guide 17 from rolling up inside the cabinet when the double sheets of pressure sensitive paper 6 are fed forward after the receipt sheet 6b is cut by the cutter 11. For this purpose, the discharge slit 19 has a small width, and the guide 17 is elongated downwardly. Therefore, the receipt sheet 6b fed upwardly through the discharge slit 19 is completely separated from the journal sheet 6a by the journal filter 12.
In some cases, it is necessary to handwrite an confirmation signature and/or correction item on both the receipt and journal sheets 6b and 6a or only the journal sheet 6a. In the conventional printer, it is necessary to open a printer cover 5 every time the handwriting is required. This operation is troublesome.
In order to supply a new roll of the double sheets of pressure sensitive paper into the printer, such an operation is required that the leading edge portions of the double sheets of pressure sensitive paper are separated into the receipt sheet and journal sheet, and the separated receipt sheet is inserted from the inner side of the printer into the discharge slit 19. In the conventional printer, however, the discharge slit 19 has the small width, so that the inserting operation cannot be carried out smoothly and requires a long time.